16.

It was everywhere. One week later and it was still hanging on everybody's lips, plaguing their minds...

No one dared to even try and approach him -or Estefany, for that matter- yet they were all thinking it. I could see it in their stolen glances. Their secretive whispers.

He was a monster. A cruel, heartless monster.

A demon with the face of an angel...

I whispered in my mind as I stole another fugitive glance in his direction, my heart leaping as soon as I noticed that he was about to turn his head and look in my direction too.

I quickly averted my gaze and tilted my chin downwards, absently scrolling through all the messages I've sent so far to those three different numbers that could belong to my father, unfortunately none of them having a single reply.

Of course he wouldn't answer. I bet he doesn't even care.

I blew out a dejected sigh, slowly starting to feel a little bit tired and overwhelmed by everything that was currently going on in my life.

"You alright?" I suddenly heard David whisper from right next to me, receiving a simple nod before I turned my head to look at him and gave him a small and rather lifeless smile, choosing to just stop thinking about anything at all as I then leaned back and averted my attention to our teacher, for once paying attention to everything she was saying and taking notes as the time flew by.

So when the class ended and the bell rang, I stretched my stiff limbs as I casually looked around at my classmates hurrying to empty the room, taking my time to gather my things and get up as well as David was gathering his.

I stepped into the row between the desks, about to make my way towards the exit when a shadow suddenly fell on my path, making me slowly raise my gaze to look at whatever caused it.

I noticed the broad expanse of blackness first, my eyes trailing over the outline of a firm chest and a masculine neck as I raised my chin higher and higher, my heart starting to pump faster and faster as soon as those piercing green eyes found my own.

I thickly swallowed, scared to make any movement or sounds as the demon stared at me with a heart-stopping intensity.

What the hell did he want now?

I didn't dare utter a single word though, finding myself trapped into that completely uncomfortable staring contest until the feel of a warm body standing right behind me had me exhaling the tiniest breath of relief, noticing the way Satan's gaze shifted to look right past my shoulder, no doubt staring at David now.

I didn't miss the way his facial expression contorted with rage, silently seething as they stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, having a some sort of quiet battle until Satan finally gave up and stepped aside, letting us pass.

Whew...

What the hell was that all about?

**

I checked my phone for the millionth time as I boredly laid over the couch in the living room, waiting for Andrea to get ready as we were about to go out shopping with the girls and David.

The Fall prom evening was happening right this weekend, so we had to pick our costumes as soon as possible.

No new emails, it read as I entered my email inbox, making me sigh with disappointment and throw my phone in a comfy chair nearby before diving face-first into a pillow, letting out a frustrated grunt.

Great.

What the hell are you doing, dad?

I suddenly sat up as soon as I could hear the phone vibrate, almost falling off of the couch as I scrambled to get it as fast as possible, my enthusiasm dampening as I noticed it was only David calling.

I sighed again and answered with a soft tone, "Hey,"

I was so not in the mood for this stupid shopping outing.

"I'm outside, are you guys ready?" He said in reply.

"Yeah, be right out,"

"Dre! Come on! David's already here!" I shouted after my sis, hearing her stumble down the stairs after a few short moments, my heart leaping in my throat at the sound.

I immediately ended the call and ran to the foot of the stairs as I was so afraid that she could be falling, feeling a little better as soon as I saw her climbing down the last few steps, all safe and sound.

"Dude, be careful!" I scolded her, receiving a childish eye-roll.

"I'm fine, mom,"

"See?" She waved her still healing arm in front of my face, making me throw her a scowling look.

"Come on, David's waiting for us," I told her as I went to retrieve my leather jacket from a comfy chair in the living room then went to put on my shoes as I didn't want to keep him waiting any longer.

So I stepped outside right after Dre, for some reason my stomach feeling a little funny as soon as I noticed David leaning against his black SUV, displaying that warm and sweet smile as he looked straight at me.

Holy shit.

My step faltered for a moment, oddly enough so entranced by the way his varsity jacket and blue jeans fit him so perfectly, my mind playing tricks on me as for a fleeting moment I found myself wondering what it would feel like...to have him kiss me and-

Holy crap!

My eyes widened, entirely weirded-out by my own dirty mind as I forcefully pushed away that train of thought and rapidly made my way towards the car, throwing him an awkward smile before hurrying to climb in the car.

"Are you okay? You didn't even greet me," He said as he climbed in right after me, turning to give me a worried look as I was seated in the front passenger seat.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, I just...remembered something that's all," I lied with another forced smile, barely able to look at him as I couldn't help but still feel so damn strange after what just happened.

What the hell was going on with me?

Why was I reacting so...freaking wantonly?

Was I starting to actually...like like him?

Oh my god! What if I do?

I slowly sunk lower in my seat as he turned on the car and reversed off of our driveway, anxiously munching on my lower lip as we drove to Kayla's house first, my mind however still revolving around that scary thought and what it could actually entail. He was still a freaking werewolf, after all.

Could he even like me back anyway?

I could feel my cheeks lightly heating up at the thought, passingly reminiscing all those names Satan and the rest of his clique have called me so far.

Patethic excuse of a human... Malnourished child...

Okay, who was I kidding? I didn't look nowhere near as hot as those three wolfy vipers from their gang.

I bet he would never even look at me that way anyway.

But still...Why did he keep hanging around with us? What was his angle?

Are we that fun to be around with? I casually wondered, just in time to hear my sister cackling like a damn hyena as she listened to something Kayla had said over the phone, even managing to accidentally kick David's seat from behind in her hysterical outburst.

Yeah. Definitely not.

I cautiously threw him a stealthy glance, watching him driving so relaxed as I thought about the way he's been protecting me from Satan, even reminiscing that heated moment we'd had earlier today when I found myself standing between them.

I seriously thought they were going to break into a freaking fight or something.

Oh shit. Does that mean that he likes me too?

My eyes widened at the thought, about to start freaking out when the car stopped, momentarily breaking me out of my internal turmoil.

I curiously shifted my gaze from him to the windshield, noticing Kayla running like a crazed lunatic straight towards the car, starting to scream like an even bigger lunatic once she'd opened the car door.

"Eeeek! We're going shopping!!"

**

After a painfully long and very loud trip to the only mall in our town we were finally there, my ears still ringing as I got out of the car as fast as I could, casually listening to Kayla and David chatting about as they got out of the car as well.

"It's not Al-frey-dough, it's actually Al-fredoh," He corrected her with a kind and completely non-condescending tone as we waited for Jess and Dre to get out of the car too.

"Wow, your pronunciation is amazing, where did you learn that?" She replied with obvious fascination as he locked the car.

"That may be because I actually have italian roots," He timidly said with a smile, showing us those cute dimples.

"My mom's italian and my name's not David, it's actually Davide as in David-eh,"

"Oh my god that sounds so fucking hot," She rather bluntly declared what we were all thinking -more or less- making us all burst into a fit of laughter as we walked to the closest elevator and got inside.

I didn't realize that it was kinda small and cramped up until I actually found myself pressed against David's -or rather Davide's- warm and muscular front, my cheeks heating up and my heart beating just a tad bit faster as he instinctually grabbed my arms in an attempt to hold me steady as the elevator started going up.

The action however didn't go unnoticed by the girls, all three of them giving me knowing looks and smirks as they glanced between my flustered face and the way his hands held onto me, making me feel so damn embarrassed.

Neither of us said anything though, keeping our silence until we finally got to our floor and got out of that damned elevator.

I sighed with relief, watching them start yapping again like a flock of excited geese as we eventually started visiting store after store, trying on various outfits and creating general havoc wherever we went.

I was casually staring at a cute-looking pink dress that was on display in the window of a store, failing to realize that I had fallen behind when the short buzz of my phone vibrating in the back pocket of my jeans abruptly drew my attention, making me quickly pull it out to check it.

There was a single message from an unknown number, simply saying,

"Boo."

I stopped in my tracks, my brows furrowing as I stared at the message for a few seconds, trying to understand what kind of stupid prank was that.

However, I barely managed to raise my gaze from the screen as I suddenly felt the powerful force of something quickly tugging at my arm, and before I could realize what just happened I found myself standing in a deserted bathroom, face to face with none other than Satan himself.

My heart-rate spiked as I watched him turn the lock behind him, instinctively taking a step back.

What the fuck is he doing?!?

"What are you doing with him?" He questioned with a raspy and threatening voice, making me furrow my brows.

Huh?

"What is going on between you and David?" He impatiently asked, his voice turning a little louder and making me startle with fright. However, I refused to show him how scared I actually was.

And with a slightly wavering voice I pushed back,

"That's...none of your business!"

"Why do you even care anyway?"

He immediately let out an angered growl, my eyes widening as I watched his normally green ones switch to that glowing golden for a second.

I whimpered as I watched him take a few steps in my direction, my entire body starting to tremble.

Never in my life have I ever felt so scared.

"No...please-Aah!" I let out a terrified squeal as he was suddenly right in front of me, his hot breath fanning my face as he stared me down as if he wanted to destroy me.

So scared that he will hurt me I uncontrollably started to cry, letting out another frightened mewl as his arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me closer, forcing me to press my hands against his chest in a futile attempt to push him away.

"What...what-"

He leaned closer and hearthily sniffed that almost healed wound on my neck before pulling back to look into my eyes, watching those tears fall down my cheeks.

I rapidly breathed, tightly closing my eyes as soon as I noticed that hand coming in my line of sight, preparing for the possible pain he was about to inflict on me when the gentle touch of his fingers trailing over my cheek had me gasping for air, shocked at the unexpected feeling.

Our eyes met again, scaring me with that endless blackness in his as he growled into that scarily animalistic voice of his,

"You are mine, Carina. Only mine,"

His palm held the side of my cheek as his head dipped again, about to press his lips against mine when the loud sound of something banging against the bathroom's door had me jolting with fright and surprise, letting out a terrified scream as the door finally opened with a violent slam against the nearest wall, revealing an equally scary-looking David.

Yet what terrified me even more was the fact that his eyes appeared to be glowing with that unnatural golden too as in the fraction of a second he was right next to us too, effortlessly snatching me away from Satan's arms as he animalistically growled too.

"I will protect Luna,"

I shivered and stared up at him with confusion, failing to understand the meaning behind his words as he pulled me closer to him, right before I heard Satan reply,

"Even from your Alpha?"

My gaze cluelessly shifted between them, casually noticing David's eyes returning to normal as he now spoke with an even voice,

"Yes. Even from my Alpha. And you are not my Alpha yet,"

"But my wolf already recognizes her as his queen,"

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